Vietnam has seen positive socio-economic development and achieved targets in terms of stabilising its macro-economic system and curbing inflation during the first seven months of the year.

The government gave out this assessment during its regular meeting, which was held in the capital city of Hanoi on August 3-4 under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

Cabinet members spent a day discussing reports, including those related to the nation’s socio-economic situation in July and the first seven months of 2010, forecasts of the world and national economic developments, the inspection work and settlement of complaints and denouncements, the fight against corruption, and administrative reforms in July, as well as the operation of the Vietnam National Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin).

Since the beginning of the year, Vietnam has licensed 533 foreign-invested projects with a combined registered capital of 8.4 billion USD, and disbursed 1.63 billion USD of Official Development Assistance (ODA) capital.

The country earned 38.3 billion USD from exports during the January-July period, a year-on-year rise of 17.5 percent, while its trade deficit tends to decline though hitting 7.4 billion USD, representing 19.45 percent of the export value.

Vietnam has also successfully carried out measures to stabilise the domestic market and kept Consumer Price Index (CPI) growth at 8.67 percent compared with the same period last year.

However, the government pointed out a number of challenges and difficulties facing the country, such as a high trade deficit and the increasing price of goods due to rising material costs and price pressures of world markets.

A shortage of capital and high interest rates for credit remained big challenges to production activities, especially industrial production, while natural disasters and epidemics are still threatening the nation’s socio-economic development.

On major directions and tasks for the coming months, PM Dung asked ministries, sectors and localities to continue seeking solutions to stabilise the macro-economy and closely monitor prices, deposit and loan interest rates and foreign exchange rates.

The government leader also requested measures to remove difficulties and obstacles in order to foster the development of industrial and agricultural production and services.

PM Dung also made conclusions and gave instructions on serious wrongdoings of Vinashin after hearing the Government Office’s report and participants’ opinions.

At the meeting, the government discussed and made recommendations to draft solutions and policies designed to improve the quality of growth, efficiency and competiveness of the Vietnamese economy, a draft resolution on renewing and developing vocational training through 2020, and a project to turn Vietnam into a powerful nation in terms of information and communication technology.

The government also debated a report reviewing a pilot project to phase out people’s councils at district and ward/commune levels, and draft laws on the capital city, human trafficking prevention and control, denouncement and other issues./.